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What Andy's Doing
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Recently Written
- Passionate People: Get What You Deserve, Become a Career Renegade!
- Featured Blog: Patrick Rhone and His Journal
- Ask The Readers: Can You Disconnect And Still Be Productive?
- Why Working Long, Hard Hours Gets You Behind (?)
- How to Help Great Productivity Blogs Get Discovered
- My Scandelous Confession and A Royal Rant About GTD
- On New Beginnings (And More About Your Host)
- Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow
- How to Use Basecamp and Backback In Perfect Harmony
- How to Chill Out
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Categories
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Archives
On New Beginnings (And More About Your Host)
Now that Brett has officialy retired from productivity blogging, I’m sure long-time readers are wondering what will come of The Cranking Widgets Blog. The short answer is easy: CW is, and will continue to be, mainly about productivity. There is, however, a long answer.
What a blogger blogs about and the spin they put on topics will always be driven by their own experiences, interests and values. For Brett, this often led us outside of the realm of productivity, as evidenced by his insightful and entertaining posts about parenting, posts about tattos and posts about drinking games.
The range of topics that I discuss will most likely morph a bit while I find what feels most comfortable. So far all you’ve really learned about me is that I love productivity. If my interests and values will play into what I write about, then the only fair thing to do at this juncture is share more about who I really am and what makes me tick. After much reflection, I’ve come up with a list of 8 things that will have the greatest impact:
Site Update - Recent Silence Explained
I wanted to drop a quick one to keep everybody informed as to the dramatic (well, ok, maybe “noticeable” is a better word) drop-off in posts here. Due to a looming deadline, all of my time has been occupied with my job - 14+ hour days, weekends, the whole nine.
Trying to find time to rest and be with my family has been tough, which means that time for blogging has evaporated entirely (for the time being). I’m going to try to get something written tonight, but I can’t make any promises 
Just know that I haven’t forgotten about good old CW and I’ll be back in the saddle in a few days, at the latest. Thanks for understanding!
Friday Fun: Find me on Facebook
While I’m still on the fence with regards to the actual value of facebook, you can add me as a friend here (apparently only after you login). Unless I actively dislike you, I’ll add you as a friend and we’ll do facebook stuff. It’ll be grand.
That is all - have a great weekend!
How I Almost Sent my iPod to Nigeria
Having been a computer guy for many years, I’ve had surprisingly little interaction with eBay. I’ve just never had much use for it, as I don’t generally sell things and prefer to buy things new. A seasoned eBay user is, I would imagine, accustomed to all the regular scams and such that are perpetrated on the unassuming Aunt Fae’s of the Internet - but I’m not. At least, not before yesterday.
So, in an effort to drum up some extra cash, I’m currently attempting to sell my iPod on eBay. After completing all of the listing details and such, my listing went up sometime in the late evening yesterday. Not really having much of a clue as to what I should sell for, I also didn’t know what to expect in terms of bids (a whole slew of them right out of the chute, none at all, etc.). When I received the following email this morning, I felt a mixture of joy and hesitation:
Why Digg and Reddit are Doomed (and Metafilter Isn’t)
I’d hardly call myself an internet journeyman or anything, but I’ve been around “the cloud” for several years now. In that time, I’ve learned a few things about people, specifically how they act on said web. Frankly, the Internet has a way of unraveling some of the best and brightest (as well as some of the medium-est and lackluster) minds putzing around today.
This is specifically evident in the “social news” arena. Speaking specifically regarding Digg and Reddit, arguably the two most popular sites in this space. Just to be fair, I’ve spent the majority of my time on Reddit, but I’ve also been known to poke around Digg on occasion (if there’s grass-growing nearby that needs supervision). At it’s outset, the Reddit community prided itself on being more intelligent and discriminating than that of Digg - and if you ask me, this was true for awhile. But, as Reddit grew in popularity and was acquired, the site’s users quickly went from a relatively small group of smarties to an ocean of raving dumbasses.
You’ll be thrilled to know that I have identified (and, judging by my completely subjective criteria, correctly so) the solution to this problem. It’s so simple, so elegant. Ready?
6 Simple Ways to be a Nicer Person
I consider myself to be pretty easy-going most of the time. I tend to get along well with people and I find it pretty easy to talk to most folks that I come in contact with.
As to why I’m a nice guy, that you can attribute to my parents. My father was a hardass and my mother is pretty much the sweetest lady ever. My father went out of his way to make sure that I did certain things when dealing with other people that are pretty much reflex now.
Not saying that I’m an authority on “nice” or anything, but I’ve certainly picked up a few nuggets in my young life. It’s surprisingly easy, actually - even for people who tend to be on the shy side.
Blog Review Contest Winner!
Well, better late than never, I suppose
Thanks to all of you folks who submitted reviews for the contest. The response wasn’t as overwhelming as I’d hoped, but that’s just good news for the people who did participate!
As promised, the winner would be chosen completely at random using a home-grown program that I said I’d post. Most of you can safely skip this next bit, and any programmers reading this should know that I was pretty tired when I wrote it 
Turn Your Daily Drive From Madness to Manageable
Living in southern California, traffic is as common and everyday as the sunrise. Assuming normal “work” hours (9-5, so to speak), just about any freeway in the land will be packed to the gills with cars during rush hour (which is a funny name, if you think about it - nobody is actually rushing anywhere). Yes, and I am one of those people who spends almost 2 hours per day in the car driving to and from work. And unless I manage to become independently wealthy or get a job around the corner from my house, this is how it’s going to be for the foreseeable future.
No Will Power, No Resolve
So, for some reason unknown to me, I’ve taken a huge swig of the Twitter Kool-Aid once again (despite a rather poetic break-up). My head is hanging low, believe me…
How to Make Sure Nobody Gets Your PIN
A couple days ago, I was buying some groceries at a nearby supermarket. As I gently slid my bank card through the terminal at the register, I was prompted to enter my PIN. It’s something I do so often that I rarely consider the potential security risks. What if somebody were to get a look at my PIN? Maybe they follow me into the parking lot and beat me to a pulp and take my ATM card? Sure, the possibility is relatively remote, but this kind of thing happens.
I’m not one of those people who walks around in a perpetual state of fear of what might happen in life. But, having just had a birthday (and the accompanying realization that I’m getting older, blah blah blah), I am reminded of the fact that I am responsible for the well being of other people on the planet (my children, specifically). And it’s that thought that makes me drive a little slower, be more conscious of my health and diet, and using common sense in financial matters.
